A not-so-hidden gem

I've lived in Los Angeles for more than six years now, but I'm still finding a lot of cool new things to do in LA that I never knew about. For instance my new Thursday night ritual for the summer is to head down to the Santa Monica Pier with friends, sit on the beach and listen to the Summer Twilight Concerts.

This nine-week concert series has a new theme each week - everything from Australian artists, Bollywood, Beatlesfest and Mardi Gras.

If you're going to actually watch the bands and really hear the music, you want to be right up on the pier. But for the rest of us, myself included, you walk down to the beach on the south side of the pier, lay out a blanket and pop a bottle of wine. It's amazing how many random friends you run into, or better yet, how many great new people you can meet.

This is a veteran gem of Santa Monica and the Westside, but for this girl it was an awesome find six years later and a fantastic way to spend a Thursday night!

Crossing the 405

If you live in LA you more than likely live within your own bubble. If you live over the hill you're from the Valley, east of La Brea you live in Hollywood, then in West Hollywood there is a good mix of people and gives a "safe" feeling being in Boystown, but most people who live there never go past Beverly Hills area. If you have friends from the South Bay (i.e. Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach) there's a good chance you never see them unless you live or work down there. And then there's the Westsiders, one of which I used to be, and they never go east of the 405.

I completely understand that LA is ridiculously spread out, but as my mother would say "don't cut off your nose to spite your face!" I love the Westside, but love living in West Hollywood. If I never crossed the 405, either west or east, I think my life would be pretty dull. My friends on the Westside are completely different from my friends who live in West Hollywood...everything from attitude, to the way they dress, to the places they hang out. This is what makes me want to drive 30 minutes to see them because in the end it's SO worth it!

Last week at the first Summer Pier Concert someone said that "no one from Hollywood ever comes to the Westside." My friend Tony immediately corrected them, pointed at me and said, "She does!"

I love that...and that's what keeps me crossing the 405!

Wow...where the hell have I been?

I have not written a post in over a year. Not really sure why I decided to come back to this now, but I think a lot of it has to do with what I've personally gone through in the past month, the current culture and economy, and the fact that I've kept my mouth shut long enough.

Megoon rants coming to a blog near you...